FanPost

Brady vs Brees and the Super Bowl That Never Was

Two weeks ago the world witnessed the greatest no-call of all time. Nearly two weeks later, Commissioner Roger Goodell responded with an inspiring response. "It is a play that should be called," Goodell confidently stated. "Whenever officiating is part of any kind of discussion postgame, it is never a good outcome for us", he elaborated. He’s not wrong about that. No matter how you look at it, nobody ever wants to place blame on the officials. Those are just professional guys doing a professional job and are working hard. But it is clear and blatant, even to the commissioner of the formerly called No Fun League., that this was possible the biggest mess-up ever on the 2nd biggest stage. Then again, what do we want him to say? He admitted that the officiating crew was at fault, which brings the blame back to himself. There really is nothing he could have said or done within the past week that could have helped the league.

The Saint of all Saints, Drew Brees, offered his comments recently, after letting this whole debacle sink in. Brees was very critical of Goodell, citing most the commissioner’s silence for 10 days following the game. "It's the commissioner's responsibility to do the same thing, and yet we don't hear a peep for 10 days. And it's because he has to do it now because he's at the Super Bowl and he does his annual press conference", Brees said. When Drew Brees talks, the NFL listens. Brees is without a doubt in the right to be critical of the referees and the league itself.

The NFL could have had a Brady-Brees Super Bowl. *Should have had a Brady-Brees Super Bowl. Two living legends, both of which father time will soon be catching up with (though as of now they look like they’ll both outlast him). Not to say that Patriots-Rams isn’t a good match-up, but Goff is no Brees…yet. Brady vs Brees in Atlanta was a QB match-up made in heaven, apparently too great that the NFL couldn’t handle it.

The outcome of all this? Change. After the NFL acknowledged that they messed up, this provided the spark we needed for a rule change. The best solution for this is something simple at first. Adding referees is over the top. Reviewing penalties takes too long. What we need is a rule that says within the 2 minute warning in each half, EVERYTHING can be reviewed. Plays, penalties, you name it. If the booth reviews everything but penalties within the final 2, why not include those as well? A simple solution to let bang-bang plays be looked at on a monitor in slow motion, so the correct call can be made, while not slowing down the game too much. The NFL is in dire need of a rule change over the off-season, and those meetings can’t happen soon enough. Get cracking Commish.

This FanPost was written by a reader and member of Canal Street Chronicles. It does not necessarily reflect the views of CSC and its staff or editors.